Maruti Ertiga based Toyota Rumion MPV trademarked in India: Launch details surface

Toyota has filed for a trademark for Rumion nameplate for their upcoming rebadged version of Maruti Ertiga. The Rumion was recently launched in South Africa. The MPV can get launched in India in the coming months.

The changes to the Rumion are minimal. It gets a new front grille with three chrome slats. There are no changes to the alloy wheels or the rear. The interior does have an all-black cabin theme whereas the Ertiga gets beige interiors. The equipment level and the dashboard design stays the same. The Rumion is manufactured in India and then is exported to South Africa.

Mechanically, it stays the same as the Ertiga. So, it is powered by a 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder petrol engine. It produces 105 hp of max power and 138 Nm of peak torque. It is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 4-speed torque converter automatic gearbox.

Also read: Maruti Suzuki Discounts on Nexa cars for March 2021: Baleno to Ciaz

Toyota Belta

Toyota has also started exporting the rebadged version of the Maruti-made Ciaz. It is being exported as a left-hand drive vehicle. Belta does not get any upgrades over the Ciaz. It looks exactly like the Ciaz except that it has a Toyota badge. So, it gets the same LED headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps, LED tail lamps, same alloy wheels and Toyota has not made any changes to the grille also. Belta is also expected to launch in India before next year.

Toyota has already discontinued its mid-size sedan, Yaris. The Yaris was not able to capture the sales numbers that Toyota wanted to. Despite being decently equipped and quite affordable, Indian people were not buying the Yaris. The sales numbers always stayed under the 1,000 mark. So, Toyota has decided to replace the Yaris with Belta.

Yaris was not successful because of a couple of reasons. It was not as good looking as its rivals. The competitors were also well established as they were in the segment for many years. Another reason was that people are just not buying sedans anymore, they are attracted more towards SUVs because of their practicality, high ground clearance, road presence and high driving position.

The Belta is also offered with the same 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that is offered with the Ertiga. This engine is also doing duty on other vehicles like Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, XL6 and S-Cross.

Other rebadged vehicles

Toyota already is selling rebadged Maruti Suzuki vehicles in the Indian market. A couple of years back, they launched their first rebadged vehicle which was a Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Toyota named it Glanza and changed the front grille. Then they launched the Urban Cruiser which was a rebadged version of Vitara Brezza. Toyota did make some changes to the Urban Cruiser in the form of a brown coloured upholstery. They also added some new paint schemes that are exclusive to Urban Cruiser and are not offered with the Vitara Brezza. Now, Toyota will be launching the rebadged version of Ertiga and Ciaz in the Indian market.

Source

Also read: Citroen”s 3 new cars for India DETAILED